Netherworld: Of Smoke and Mirrors
by Revicious
Summary: Arrogant Sakura Haruno aspires to become a high-ranking demon hunter simply for the status and power that the prestigious title provides. Eager to climb the ranks of the Academy, she's among the first to sign up for the task of solving a seemingly easy case in a nearby settlement – but not all is what it seems. Who can she trust in this game of smoke and mirrors? AU. SakuxSasu


**A/N:**

**I've had this idea lurking annoyingly at the back of my skull for ****_some _****time now and finally decided to do something about it. Write it down, preferably. While I still have a couple of loose ends and plot holes that require tenacious filling, I'd love to hear some feedback from this brief prologue I'm presenting you. As harsh at it might sound, I will only continue this story if it gets enough attention—a follow or review; I'm not ****_that_****cruel—since I'm working on some other projects as well. I hope you understand that and can overlook this blunt demand of mine. I appreciate the gesture and support, should you find my content interesting. **

**Please enjoy reading. **

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><p><strong>Main pairing: SakuraxSasuke<strong>

**Setting: AU; In a world where magic and technology coexist and humans **  
><strong>constantly clash in battles with demons and their various subtypes<strong>

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><p><strong><span>PREFACE<span>**

Mint green eyes brimming with hot, salty water, Sakura half stumbled, half ran through the gloomy forest. Her boots plummeted into the soft undergrowth and she almost twisted her ankle when she stepped on a particularly spongy patch of moss that seemed to want to swallow her foot whole.

Swallow _all_ of her whole.

Something sharp whispered past her neck, just barely grazing skin, and thudded into a nearby trunk. The pink-haired girl flinched in pain but her strides didn't falter. She caught a glimpse of metal before she rounded the tree and willed her legs to move at greater speeds. Remembering her training, Sakura began sprinting lightly on the very balls of her feet and hunkered her torso forward, thus smoothening her hasty flight through the dense vegetation. She drew her elbows closer to her ribs in an attempt to make herself a harder target to hit and glued her blurry focus to the damp forest floor, systematically searching the obscure ground to see where she could safely put her feet without tripping or making too much noise.

Her breaths came out in uneven and heavily labored wheezes. Sakura tasted bile and iron rising from the back of her throat and grimaced in disgust; she would have toppled over and hurled already, should it not have been for her since long empty stomach. Her feet ached and her thighs burned with prolonged exertion – only a heart-pounding mixture of adrenaline and fear kept her going.

The fear being that of dying.

Reaching a steep slope, Sakura halted and bit her bottom lip. The great incline was something she would have hesitated to descend even in broad daylight, not to mention blatantly refuse if it was dark outside. And it was as good as nightfall already. In the murkiness, her teary vision could only barely discern the silhouettes of the knee-high rocks and centuries old trees occasionally obstructing her path. Decaying leaves littered a majority of the precarious slope and she couldn't see anything beyond her immediate proximity.

Which wasn't far.

Sakura briefly considered the option of running along the ominous declivity until she found a more decent route to traverse, but hearing the rustling and snapping of branches and wild ferns behind her, she continued straight forward and raced down the descent. Dread caused her to panic and she almost flew rather than hiked downwards, her legs automatically springing out before her to both dampen her fall and at the same time propel her onward. For each reckless, leaf-crunching stride, an electric jolt coursed from her heel to knee, to all the way up to her hipbone, and she stubbornly flattened her chapped lips into a hard line. Curse her, if she would be so weak as to let out even the quietest of yelps.

Halfway down the slope, Sakura was but a hair's breadth away from tumbling over a gnarly root hidden partly beneath layers of leaves. She managed to dodge the protrusion in the last second by pushing off of the ground with her whole weight and land beyond it, but her extra long bound disturbed her balance and she was forced to drop to the ground and roll down the rest of the hill like a log, the momentum of her pounce and gravity increasing her pace. She raised her arms in a protective cage to protect her head and face but that left the rest of her body exposed and a jagged stone cut into her side, eliciting a twinge of fresh pain. She bit down a groan and closed her eyes in hurt, persevering through the agony while hoping the wound would at worst become a nasty bruise.

When the slope ended, she scrambled to her feet and dashed into what she hoped was the right direction. She quickly peered over her shoulder, a knot tightening her stomach, but saw none of her pursuer. A sliver of hope wriggled into her chest and she turned her gaze forward again, stretching out an arm to push aside thick foliage. Branches raked against her cheeks.

_Muster up_, a familiar voice told Sakura when new tears threatened to encroach upon her vision. She increased her tempo even though her limbs groaned in protest and she deftly dove through small openings between bushes and tall trees before coming up into a running state again. _Don't you even dare try to give up. You're not that kind of girl._

Sakura clenched her fists and nodded. She had come too far now to slip and let everyone down. She had to focus on her mission and goal. Any mistakes, even the slightest, would prove fatal. She couldn't afford to misstep even once, lest she'd fail everyone.

And she sure as hell hadn't left _him _for that.

Sakura lifted a hand to her neck and pressed two fingers against the cut. It was superficial, to her big relief.

"Recover," she commanded, panting. Beads of sweat trickled down her skin, mixed with the blood and stung. "Recover," she repeated, this time firmer and with more vigor. "_Please_."

A warm sensation surged up her arm and wrist, and through the meandering veins within her hand. Slinking beneath a felled tree that was leaning against a rocky slope, naturally creating a somewhat adequate cover, Sakura waited until the reassuring tinge flowed to the tips of her fingers and spread across the area of her wound before she continued. She grimly wiped her hands on her trousers and jogged downhill.

Sakura leaped over a murky pond and pushed past another throng of trees before she slowed down again. Nearing an enormous boulder marking the center of the tiny meadow, she finally dared a look after her to see whether she had lost her pursuer or not. The surrounding forest stared back at her, dark and looming and threatening from every direction, but nothing beyond the expected rustling of nocturnal animals emanated from her environment.

Had she gotten away? Had she _actually_ made it?

After a suspicious pause, Sakura began walking again. A cold breeze brushed past her cobweb-draped hair, naked shoulders and cheeks, and she inhaled the cool air in deep gulps – it carried the taste of autumn. Dots of incandescent light gleamed all across the nightly firmament and she tracked the pattern of star constellations stretching across the sky. In order to find her way out, she definitely needed to figure out in which direction north was.

"That way," she mumbled after a minute of pondering. She stared down at her trembling legs, then stalked forward, exhausted arms dangling by the sides. "Come on, girl. You can do this."

An overwhelming notion of being watched suddenly tore through the fringes of her mind.

Shoulders rapidly stiffening, Sakura held her breath and perked her ears, although she outwardly hoped it appeared like she were oblivious to the other party's presence. Nothing moved in her peripheral vision but all the hairs on her neck stood on edge and a shiver that had nothing to do with the cold traveled down her spine. She focused and tried to perceive anything out of the ordinary, perhaps muffled footsteps or a blade being unsheathed, but heard nothing except her own, soft footfalls and pounding heart.

That was it, she realized. It was too quiet to be in the woods.

Sakura abruptly whirled about mid-step and scanned the meadow with narrowed eyes. Carefully, she surveyed her silent surroundings, but nobody was there. She frowned; she could have _sworn_ she felt someone looking straight at her.

Her attention eventually passed by, then darted back to the shadowy gap between two trees. Sakura's eyes widened. The obscurity made it almost impossible to differentiate the slender body from the murky background and the strands of ebony hair from the dark branches and delicate, blade-shaped leaves, but the unmistakably nefarious and otherworldly presence exuding from the person in a pulsating, vile black aura would have eluded no one. It was palpable, wavering in the air.

The nature seemed to shrink back as the figure stepped out from his or her cover. Eyes rounding in recognition, Sakura stumbled back. Shock stiffened her features and she paled, feeling more nauseous than ever.

She took a deep breath and braced herself before speaking.


End file.
